Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, INDUSTRY NEWS, TRENDS: International Bar Association Elects Allen & Overy Antitrust Partner Michael Reynolds as President, (Jan 8, 2013)

The International Bar Association (IBA) has elected Allen & Overy LLP antitrust partner Michael Reynolds to serve as its next president, the IBA has announced. Reynolds will serve a two-year term in that position on the organization’s management board.

Reynolds intends to use his time in office to focus on climate change and the legal needs of the underprivileged.

“During my presidency I shall be focusing particularly on the impact of climate change on all of us, but especially on the disadvantaged,” Reynolds said. “We will also look at other ways of how the lives of the underprivileged are being destabilised, and will focus on ways to enhance or preserve their access to justice.”

Reynolds will also seek to foster the IBA’s engagement with legal professionals worldwide, particularly in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa); Mexico; Asia, with a specific focus on Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar; and in Africa, including the African French and Portuguese-speaking countries. Reynolds also intends to concentrate his attention on cross-border transactions.

“Cross-border transformations have perhaps been seen at their most radical in new technologies and social media. An IBA task force will explore the impact and potential of these for justice and the practice of law,” Reynolds stated. “Our commercial emphasis thus works in harmony with our wider mission on the rule of law, without which commerce cannot function, or is diminished, and without which all individuals are dishonoured.”

Reynolds previously served in a number of senior positions at the IBA including Vice-President, Secretary General, Chair of the Legal Practice Division and Chair of the Antitrust and Trade Law Committee, and as a Director and founding member of the IBA's Global Forum on Competition.

Reynolds has practiced in Brussels, Belgium, since founding Allen & Overy’s Brussels office in 1979, primarily in the area of European antitrust law. He has represented major European, United States, Japanese and other international clients in a number of important cases before the European Commission and European Court of Justice and has advised the Governments of Spain, Russia, Poland and Romania on the application of European Union law.

News: IndustryNewsTrends